St. Paul cop in viral online photo a non-issue, union says

An undated photo of a St. Paul officer has gone viral. The St. Paul Police Department says they're looking into it, but the police union says it's a non-issue. (Courtesy photo)

A photo of a St. Paul police officer has gone viral online and police officials say they're looking into it, but the police union says it's a non-issue.

The officer is seen giving two thumbs-up as he stands next to a man with his eyes closed in the driver's seat of a car. But the man pictured was sleeping, the officers involved are friends of his and the man put it online himself, St. Paul Police Federation President Dave Titus said Wednesday.

Police Chief Thomas Smith "is very aware of the situation," Sgt. Paul Paulos, a department spokesman, said of the photo. "St. Paul police are currently looking at the circumstances that are surrounding this incident. First of all, is this fact or fictional, and who are the people in there? They're doing a thorough investigation."

The photo was not recent; it shows the officer wearing short sleeves. It came about when officers were finishing a call and saw a man in a car, and they went to check, Titus said.

"It turned out to be their friend who was sleeping," he said. "They saw he was breathing and OK."

An officer took the photograph of the other officer, and they woke up their friend, Titus said.

"He thought it was funny and wanted a copy of it," he said. "Evidently, he posted it on Facebook." From there, it apparently was posted on other websites, Titus said.

"Our officers did not post it," he said. "There is no ill intent by anyone involved."

Paulos, whose duties include monitoring social media for the department, said he saw the photo of the officer on theCHIVE, a photo-entertainment website. The photo also appeared on the humor website CHEEZburger. It was posted there with the headline, "Driving Under the Ambien." The post indicated the photo came from Reddit.com, a social news and entertainment site.

The Reddit post was submitted Jan. 31 and titled, "Do you know why I pulled you ... over?" The photo, linked to the image-sharing site Imgur.com, had been viewed more than 825,000 times as of Feb. 5 before it was deleted.

Titus said the misleading headlines with the posts, and the lack of information about the circumstances, could have led people to get the wrong idea about the photo. The man pictured was not under the influence and hadn't been pulled over, Titus said.

Photos surfaced online in February 2013 of two male St. Paul police officers dressed, apparently for Halloween, in hijab, a head covering worn by some Muslim women. Smith ordered internal affairs investigations at the time. Information about the outcome of those cases was not available Wednesday.

All St. Paul police officers received diversity training last year; a session during the training focused on precautions about using social media.